By Saneya Arif With the failure of traditional Islamic movements, the Wahhabism as a pivot now dominates the global panorama. It is ...
By Saneya Arif
With the failure of traditional Islamic
movements, the Wahhabism as a pivot now dominates the
global panorama. It is today regarded as the epicenter of all kind of Islamic
revolutions in various mutated forms by most of the Muslims, due to its teachings regarding state and religion.
According to this particular school of thought, the Ulema are responsible for the
protection of the divine law and one can accept the rule of anyone who follows Sharia.
Based on the principle of pure monotheistic worship, this movement also
advocated purging of practices such as popularizing cults of saints, and shrine
visitation, widespread among Muslims since the spread of Sufi Islam. The
movement considered these as impurities and innovations in Islam, an extreme
form of which they believe may lead the believers to shirk (by practicing
idolatry or polytheism).
Such attempts to project a puritan form of
Islam bereft of impurities and innovations have further benefited from the
seed itself which has been sowed couple
of centuries ago and have been influenced by the rapidly transforming
geopolitical scenarios in the modern era, resulting in Wahhabism becoming more
open and inclusive – by targeting not just Sunni Muslims, but also non-Sunnis
and non-Muslims in their preaching – and thereby attracting more audiences.
Additionally, the spread of education and advancements in communication systems
have made it easier to transmit Wahhabi doctrines to different segments of
Muslim populations across the globe.
Though it sounds prophetic but is it really
so? Is the movement really becoming more open and inclusive? Do the preachers
really practice what has already been preached? The doctrines being transmitted
are just the sacred doctrine or dissemination of some extremist expositions? Last
but not the least, are these audiences joining voluntarily or there is a forced
submission to the ideology?
All these finds an answer in today’s West
Asia. Wahhabism as an ideology is largely responsible for the situation in the
West Asia today; a situation that does not just effect the West Asia, but as we
have seen more and more since 9/11, effects the US, Europe, the West and
probably the entire world. It is responsible for decades of violence, war, suffering
and manipulation. The origin of which can be traced back to an approximate era
– roughly 100 years ago, during the events occurred under illogical Sykes-Picot agreement made at the time of First World War.
Historical Origin
The modern roots of Wahhabism can be traced
to Najd in Saudi Arabia and the 18th century theologian Muhammad ibn Abd
al-Wahhab. The main tenant of his doctrine was the key idea of takfir, where
one Muslim declares a non-Muslim or an apostate, an unbeliever or Kafir
(Infidel). According to ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his followers, any Muslim who
honored the dead, saints, or angels, believed in pilgrimages to tombs and
special mosques, religious festivals celebrating saint’s birthday, the honoring
of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad's birthday, and even uses gravestones when
burying the dead are infidels. He held
that such sentiments detracted from the complete subservience one must feel
towards God, and only God, thus these must be banned. Abd al-Wahhab denounced
all such infidels. “Those who would not conform to this view should be killed,
their wives and daughters violated, and their possessions confiscated, he wrote”.
Far from being regarded as a legitimate
interpreter of Islam, al-Wahhab was opposed even by his own father and brother
for his beliefs. But the movement gained unchallenged precedence in most of the
Arabian Peninsula through an alliance between Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and
the House of Muhammad ibn Saud, which provided political and financial power
for al-Wahhab’s ideologies to gain prominence. Marriage between Muhammad bin
Saud’s son, Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad, and the daughter of ibn Abd al-Wahhab,
helped to seal the pact between their families which has lasted through the
centuries to present day.
This alliance gave birth to the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia; following the collapse of the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire after the
First World War, the House of Sauds seized the control of the Hejaz and the
Arabian Peninsula and a nation was founded on the tenets of al-Wahhab – the
state-sponsored, dominant form of Islam in the very cradle of Islam. The duo could
now do what they always did, which was raiding neighboring villages and robbing
them of their possessions, this time not under so called Arab tradition rather
under their legitimate banner of jihad. ibn Saud and Abd al-Wahhab also
reintroduced the idea of martyrdom in the name of jihad, as it granted those
martyred immediate entry into paradise. Their strategy was to simply instill
fear and bring the people who they conquered into submission.
Does the strategy look any different
from that of ISIS?
The question that needs an answer is does
the strategy look any different from that of ISIS? The answer is a simple ‘NO’.
Be it the humanitarian crisis in Syria, the ISIS taking over of it and Iraq by
the fall of 2013, Israeli offensives in Gaza, the rhetoric “Britain Belongs to Allah” by the likes of Anjem
Choudary and his supporters in Britain, the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, the
taking over of the Qalamoun mountains in Syria or the very recent plight of the
Alawite minority of Tartus, second largest port city of Syria, all of it
testimonies the fact loud and clear.
Gaining Grounds
The Wahhabi doctrines have been a major
influence on Extremism, Islamism and Terrorism. According to an article titled
“ZIONISM and WAHHABISM: The Twin Cancers Destroying the Middle East (and their
Dark Origins)” by the Burning Blogger of Bedlam, dated 7th November
2014, “The ideologies have been methodically disseminated across the Islamic
world for a hundred years via Saudi oil based wealth funded ‘education’ through
religious literature to universities and mosques everywhere from Egypt - Iraq
to Pakistan - Indonesia. Worse scenario is the Saudi-funded dissemination of Wahhabi-inspired propaganda has for a long time been spreading beyond the
Middle East and into the Western societies, especially the Muslim communities in
the UK. A recent two-year study conducted by Dr Denis MacEoin, an Islamic
studies expert who taught at the University of Fez, uncovered a hoard of
“malignant literature” inside as many as a quarter of Britain’s mosques. All of
it had been published and distributed by agencies linked to the government of
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia”.
“The leaflets, DVDs and journals were full
of statements that homosexuals should be burnt, stoned or thrown from mountains
or tall buildings, with adulterers and apostates (those who try to change their
religion) proscribed a similar fate. Women were portrayed as intellectually
inferior and in need of “beating when they transgressed” orthodox Islamic
codes, while children over the age of 10 should be beaten if they did not pray.
Half of the literature was written in English, suggesting it was targeted at
younger British Muslims who don’t speak Arabic or Urdu. The material, openly
available in many of the mosques, advises British Muslims to segregate
themselves from non-Muslims”.
Are these extremist literature, DVDs, YouTube videos and Journals attracting European foreign fighters to join the war of so called
Jihad? There has been a plenty of news reports of such joining on internet. These
foreign fighters (FFs) have made numerous headlines, with pictures of them
posing with heavy weaponry. The instance in October 2014 that reported about death
of a Norwegian Kurd in his twenties, or the rhetoric, “Britain belongs to
Allah” by radical preacher Anjem Choudhary in UK, speaks all about it. Thus,
these do have served as a tool for an effective recruitment in the past. Saudi-funded Wahhabist literature can be cited as a major influence
(though not the sole influence) on the radicalization of young British men and
joining extremist organisations like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. In places like Pakistan
where, unlike in the UK, most young men do not have the privilege to pursue
higher education have access to religious schools and mosques, many of which teach
from such funding.
Threat to Saudi Arabia?
Doesn’t the brutality of Islamic state yet instill
fear in Saudis that it may pose a threat on them too? It seems that the opinion
still stands divided in the country. Some believe that it is just a Shia Sunni schism,
while others do foresee the adverse consequences that are imminent in the long
run. They are more fearful, and recall the history of the revolt against Abd-al
Aziz by the Wahhabist Ikhwan.
A 17 minute audio message launched in November
2014, purportedly from its elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, sets its sights
firmly on Saudi Arabia. The speaker did not refer to it as Saudi Arabia, since
this is a name derived from the ruling tribe, the al-Saud whose authority IS does
not accept. Instead he called it “the land of Haramayn”, that is the land of
the two holy places, Mecca and Medina. Reaching out to IS’s growing number of Saudi
followers, he sets out a target list for attack, starting with Shiites who make
up a minority in the oil-rich eastern province and whom they view as heretics. Another
video released by IS this January intended to invade Saudi Arabia while the
kingdom’s throne changed hands.
These threats posed to Saudi Arabia rattled the natives for a certain period of time (evident by the beefing up of security mechanisms along the borders), however very soon statement made by the U.S. military stating Islamic State's threat in the country to insignificant one which eventually comforted them. In
conclusion, it is beyond the power of any country to comment decisively on
whether the IS will pose future threat to that particular country or not, Saudi
being a fund provider to extremist literature, must be alert too viewing the past
threats from an extremist organization.
Need of the Hour
Wahhabism as one of the most destructive,
toxic ideology have played well in creating the harsh, apocalyptic-looking
conditions we have in the West Asia and much of the world beyond today. The
need of the hour is to put a short stop to this cancerous tumor before it
reaches its last stage. One must come out of the camouflage of the so called
Jihad and think; if Prophet would have been alive would he be happy seeing all this?
Thus, is it appropriate for followers of the Prophet to say goodbye to
sentiments of mutual understanding, tolerance and perseverance and go out,
armed with dangerous weapons, to annihilate innocents and sow the seeds of
hatred? No sane human being will say yes to it.
Today, a collective military action seems
to be the only way to check such menace, but a lasting peace in the Islamic
world is possible only if a battle is waged within Islam to change the mindset.
Besides we need to look beyond the usual Islamophobic and Islamophilic
perspectives. Last but not the least Saudi Arabia needs to take this seriously
and act effectively on it.
Next time whenever the likes of Afghanistan
and Iraq are subjected to invasion, likes of Syria and Libya encounters an
overthrow of their governments then likes of Saudi Arabia must also be
questioned over the cynical and methodical dissemination of extremist doctrines
across the Muslim world. Only then a time will come when there will be no one
pulling the knots from each side of the rope and peace will prevail thereafter.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the IndraStra Global. This article is cleared for public release; distribution can be initiated under CreativeCommons : Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Un-ported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
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